Out-of-place artifacts, called OOPARTS for short, are a popular source of evidence among those who support theories of ancient aliens’ visitation, creationists, paranormal activities believers, and other forms of pseudoscience and fringe science. What are they? They can be evidence of technological achievements centuries before such ability was known to exist. Or they can present “evidence” of human habitation prior to the accepted emergence of humanity. Or they can present evidence of human emigration centuries earlier than believed.
An important part of an OOPART is its ability to baffle experts, seemingly unable to explain the evidence before their eyes. According to Act for Libraries.org the term is “rarely used by historians and scientists”, and OOPARTS are instead cited, often erroneously and sometimes fraudulently, as evidence supporting fringe theories. Here are 10 such OOPARTS which have been debunked by mainstream science, though they still have their supporters.
10. The Tamil Bell
In 1836 a Christian missionary to New Zealand named William Colenso discovered Maori women boiling potatoes in a bronze vessel, which he recognized as a damaged bell. Further examination by Colenso, who was also botanist and explorer of note, revealed the bell was manufactured of bronze, and bore an inscription in ancient Tamil, using characters which had long before fallen out of use. The inscription identified the Maori cooking pot as a ship’s bell.
Since its discovery by Colenso, numerous theories developed as to how a Tamil bell arrived in New Zealand from Asia, when no previous evidence of Tamil contact with the Maori had been unearthed, as well as none since. The bell is an OOPART because of its inscription linking it to a Tamil ship, though that in itself does not mean the Tamil made contact with the Maori several centuries before its discovery. The waters of the region were plied with numerous vessels, including the Portuguese, French, English, and Spanish. Pirates roamed the area as well. Any number of plausible explanations for the bell’s presence are thus available.
It could have been recovered from a derelict vessel which washed ashore in New Zealand. It could have been taken as a prize by sailors from one ship or another, and traded to the Maori. Before the New Zealand coast and adjacent waters were charted by Captain James Cook in the late 18th century, the unknown shoals and currents of the region claimed many an unwary ship. How the Tamil Bell arrived in New Zealand remains undetermined, but it was likely more due to accident than exploration.
9. The Shroud of Turin
Few Christian relics are more controversial than the Shroud of Turin, claimed by believers to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth, marked with a negative photographic image of His body by unknown, but miraculous means. To others it is a deliberate hoax, created by an unknown artist or artists during the Medieval period. Carbon dating supports the latter theory, despite claims by believers which state the carbon dating is inaccurate, and other means of measuring its age dates it to the time of Christ.
The Shroud did not appear in any documented record until 1353 AD, which corresponds to the window established by carbon dating as to the time of its creation, more than 1300 years after the events some believe it proves. Subsequent legends and folklore placed the Shroud in the hands of Byzantine invaders and others during the period when its existence, at least the existence of the Shroud of Turin known today, was hidden. Since the 14th century appearance of the Shroud, the Catholic Church has carefully noted its existence, but has never confirmed its authenticity.
Recently DNA testing has been conducted on the cloth, with inconclusive results, as would be expected from an artifact which has passed through so many hands, tests, examinations, and studies for over six centuries. To the faithful, the Shroud of Turin is the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. To those who follow science, it’s a carefully created forgery, so skillfully done the means of doing so remain hidden. To them, it is an OOPART, formed in the 14th century, and not an ancient relic of Biblical times.
8. The Dendera Lamps of Ancient Egypt
The Dendera Lamps stem from a collection of motifs in the temple at Dendera, Egypt. Supporters of ancient alien visitation theories claim the motifs depict the use of projecting electric lights a la cathode ray tubes, or arc lamps. Influential support of the theory came from Erich von Daniken, author of numerous books citing alien visitations among the ancients, including Chariots of the Gods? Science widely disregards his theories, yet his books continue to sell and have spawned a growing number of believers that the Ancient Egyptians, as well as the Hindu, Tamil, Incan, and Mayan civilizations, benefited from alien technology.
The theories of Daniken and his supporters make the Dendera Lamps, also called the Dendera Lights, an OOPART since they clearly show the use of technology previously believed to have been unknown by the Egyptians of the day. To them, anyway. Mainstream science and archaeology disagree. To them, the portions of the motif which ufologists claim represents light beams are actually depictions of the rising sun emerging from a lotus flower, in accordance with Egyptian legend.
The Dendera Lamps remain controversial among pseudoscientists and ufologists, some of whom cite them as irrefutable proof of alien intervention in Ancient Egypt. They ignore the inscriptions which appear along with the motif, which describe each panel. The inscriptions link each panel of the motif with a corresponding scene from the Ancient Egyptian creation myth, rather than depicting the use of electric light, as all too many believe.
7. Piltdown Man
In a 1912 meeting of the Geological Society of London, Charles Dawson claimed he had received a portion of a skull discovered four years earlier in a gravel pit at Piltdown. Dawson informed the meeting he had visited the site several times, and discovered several pieces of fossilized bone in the spoil pits surrounding the gravel pit. Arthur Smith Woodward of the reputable British Museum joined Dawson on some of his diggings. In 1915 portions of additional bone fragments were discovered at a similar site in Sheffield.
Piltdown Man, as the bones came to be called, was claimed by its discoverers to be a previously unknown hominid, the so-called missing link of evolution from ape to man. Almost from the beginning, scientists and anthropologists disputed the findings, and the subject became one of dispute for several decades. In 1953 a group of scientists and researchers provided TIME Magazine with information which established Piltdown Man as a forgery from the outset, a composite of fossils from at least three different hominids. The discussions over Piltdown Man shifted to speculation over who perpetrated the hoax.
That has never been determined with certainty, though Charles Dawson remains a prime suspect, as do many others. Among them was Arthur Conan Doyle. Named as the hoaxer in 1997, more recent scholarship exonerates him. Piltdown Man was an OOPART which has been clearly debunked. There has never been a final determination of who created Piltdown Man, nor why, but there is general consensus the entire scheme was a fraud.
6. The Iron Pillar of Delhi
It’s difficult to determine just how out of place the artifact known as the Iron Pillar of Delhi actually is, since it has been moved numerous times. Its origin is debated, as is the authenticity of various inscriptions on the pillar, as least as far as its chronological history is concerned. Conflicts between Muslims and Hindi led to the artifact being relocated several times, with aspects of its history etched into the metal of which it is made. It is the metal itself which qualifies it as an OOPART, at least to some. To others it stands (literally) as a 1,600 year old monument to ancient knowledge and craftsmanship.
The pillar is of wrought iron, forge-welded, and unusually resistant to corrosion. The protection from rust appears to have been deliberately achieved by its creators, and represents a knowledge of metallurgy which far exceeds that accomplished in the 4th century, when it appears to have been made. This advanced knowledge has led to speculation that the ancients who created the pillar had the assistance of alien intelligence and skills when creating the artifact. In truth, the pillar is not completely rust-free, as proponents of ancient intervention suggest. Yet its origin remains uncertain, its purpose unknown.
Recent scholarship has speculated the column reflects known metallurgical skills of the time, albeit practiced by highly advanced artisans, and is thus no mystery at all. At least as regards its manufacture. Yet ancient alien intervention proponents continue to cite it as “evidence” of ancient man interacting with advanced beings from other worlds. Their interpretation of some of the inscriptions on the artifact support their thesis. The chemical and mineral composition of the artifact, and the means of its manufacture, do not.
5. The Decalogue Stone
About 35 miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a large boulder with a flat face, bearing an inscription in Hebrew. It is known as the Decalogue Stone, as well as the Commandment Stone and other names (Decalogue is a reference to the 10 Commandments). First reported to the public in 1933, the stone bears the abridged inscriptions of the Commandments, though in modern Hebrew. The stone is cited by some as proof of Semitic contact with North America prior to the arrival of Columbus in the New World.
Researchers have discovered numerous flaws which raise questions over the stone’s authenticity as an ancient artifact. There are grammatical errors, and the use of Hebrew letters which are inappropriate to the message. There have also never been unearthed other artifacts in the region which support the presence of Semitic peoples, which would certainly have been left behind given the length of time necessary to inscribe the stone.
There are also Greek letters interspersed within the Hebrew inscription. And finally, though all of these flaws are explained away by proponents of the stone’s ancient authenticity, it appears to be signed. An inscription on the bedrock of the stone reads, “Eva and Hobe 3-13-30”. The debate about the authenticity of the Decalogue Stone near Los Lunas continues between believers and the scientific community who generally regards it as a hoax.
4. The New Hampshire mystery stone
In 1872 a mysterious stone was reported to have been found near Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. It is described as egg-shaped, with a hole running through its center from top to bottom. It appears to have been bored from both ends, since the diameter of the bore is different at the top than bottom (3.2 mm at the top, 9.5 mm at the bottom).
Several carvings appear on the stone, on opposite sides, which include an ear of corn, arrows, a lunar phase, and others. An 1872 report in The American Naturalist described the stone as, “…of a higher grade of art than usual in Indian workmanship”. It also presented the stone as an artifact which “…commemorates a treaty between two tribes”. The stone changed hands several times over the years, and is today held by the New Hampshire Historical Society.
The 1872 article also speculated the bore through the stone appeared to have been cut with the precision of power tools, not available to the Native tribes which created it. But that was mere speculation. In 1994 New Hampshire officials had the stone examined by archaeologists, who determined the stone’s bore was created with modern power tools of the late 19th or early 20th century.
3. Minnesota runestone
Also known as the Kensington Runestone, it first appeared in 1898, when Olof Ohman claimed he found the stone covered with Norse runes while clearing land of brush and trees. The inscriptions recorded in runes in the stone are alleged to date from the 14th century, implying the stone was left behind by Norse explorers from that period. By 1910, scientific examinations had led to the stone being labeled a hoax by American scholars at the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, and Swedish and Norwegian experts who received a copy of the transcription.
All determined the inscription to be a fake, and of fairly recent origin. Further frauds followed. Several writers published articles claiming the stone to be a legitimate artifact, and public interest in the stone, with its repercussions of the Vikings, grew. The runes have even been linked, by those prone to such things, with the Knights Templar of Malta, and other longstanding conspiracy theories.
Though the stone was almost universally rejected as a fake by the mainstream scientific community, it continues to generate supporters of its authenticity. To them, the runes stand as proof of the early Norse settlements in the central region of today’s United States, though their arguments bear little weight within the scientific and scholarly community.
2. The Holy Stones of Newark, Ohio
The Hopewell culture of Ohio are known to posterity as the Moundbuilders. They built earthworks and mounds for religious purposes, defenses around their villages, and for burials. Among their greatest is the Serpent Mound near Ft. Ancient, and the Great Mound in Miamisburg, both in Ohio. Among their burial mounds near Newark, Ohio, about a half an hour’s drive east of Columbus, was found what are known as the Holy Stones of Newark. They have been called “…one of the most infamous frauds in Ohio archaeology” by the Ohio Archaeological Council.
Like the massive inscribed rock near Los Lunas, their supporters offer them as “proof” of the Semitic occupation of the Ohio country during the Pre-Columbian era. The stones began turning up just as the United States was about to devolve into Civil War, largely over the issue of slavery. They purported to be evidence of all humanity descending from Adam and Eve and the Biblical creation story related in Genesis. Thus, to the abolitionists in America, slavery was evil as Genesis clearly stated all humans were descended from the same parents. The stones included Hebrew letters; one stone contained the Decalogue, and they also contain carvings of various symbols associated with Freemasonry.
Regardless of being almost universally rejected as fakes, the five Newark stones remain a source of debate over their authenticity. In 2019, the Center for the Future of Museums, through its annual publication TrendsWatch Report, described the stones, “Fraudulent artifacts, bearing Hebrew inscriptions planted in Ohio mounds in the 1800s to promote a combined political, scientific, and religious agenda”. Despite being thoroughly debunked, there are those who continue to use the stones for similar reasons.
1. The Face on Mars
In 1976 NASA’s Viking 1 explorer mission sent back photographs of the surface of Mars. Viking’s primary mission was to obtain photographs to help NASA mission planners determine a suitable location for the landing of the subsequent Viking 2 mission. In July Viking 1 transmitted the photograph which appeared to be of a human face, in the midst of a rocky field, clearly (to some) fashioned by something other than natural conditions. The Face of the Man on Mars became a widely referenced topic in books, magazine articles, television programs, and even films. Those were the pre-internet days, and social media did not exist to make it go viral. But it became famous.
Officially NASA claimed the resemblance to a face was a mere illusion, caused by lighting anomalies, or obstructions. In 1998 a more sophisticated orbiter took further photographs of the area where the face was seen, and additional photographs have been taken since. The face does not appear in any of them, substantiating NASA’s contention the face was an illusion in the first photograph. Light and shadow created the face, which from other angles simply does not exist. It was a mirage, of sorts.
Debunked? Not according to some. At least one intrepid seeker of truth insisted NASA covered up evidence of life on Mars, including the Face on Mars. Some claim at least one more alien face has been uncovered by robotic explorers of the Red Planet. No matter how thoroughly some “facts” are debunked, there will still be people to support their existence, claiming they have “proof” governments are covering up the truth from the public they serve.